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Posts Tagged ‘flood mapping’

According to the Fraser Coast Chronicle, of Queensland, Australia, the Bundaberg Regional Council embraced mapping technology in order to save lives of flood victims during the Bundaberg tornados a year ago in January 2013. This is now the anniversary of the disaster, when six tornados struck in and around Bundaberg. The GIS technology employed provided rescue teams with critical and timely information for evacuations, rescues, food drops, and the ensuing clean-up.

In the article, GIS Delivery and Support team leader Steven Bowden said the technology was a crucial part of its operation to evacuate more than 6,000 people from the areas of North and East Bundaberg. “Council has been working with Esri Australia in leveraging GIS technology across different business areas for the past five years,” Mr Bowden said.

Floods hit the regions in 2010 and 2013, when the technology delivered up-to-date information while the floods were happening. GIS was used for all tactical and operational decision-making, situational awareness, strategic planning and rescue efforts as well as engaging the public.

In the past two to three years, GISCafe has run many stories about flood mapping and flood risk solutions that have proliferated since Hurricane Katrina and other flooding disasters have occurred. The technology that meets the demand for more accurate flood mapping has appeared to be a godsend to those attempting to do flood risk analysis and management tasks.

But for homeowners, the technology may not seem like such a great advancement. A five-year, $1 billion project by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to draw new maps pinpointing places that could be affected by the kind of flood that occurs once a century — meaning the flood has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year – is prompting homeowners to have to go out and buy flood insurance.

For a lot of people, buying flood insurance is not something on their radar, and definitely not in the budget. As a result of this project, every county in the New York region has been remapped. In Monmouth County, NJ alone, 4,300 properties have been remapped and recast as flood-prone. Beginning September 25, those property owners will be required to carry flood insurance that could cost up to $1,700 per year. The areas in question are Middleton, Keansburg, Hazlet and Union Beach – communities that are generally comprised of blue-collar workers who do not generally have the extra money to spend on flood insurance.